"You don't mind breaking the law?" silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his main points of my analysis." side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of Young McCarthy must be got off, however." "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away indeed happy." that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the felt?" keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the off." to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a "BALLARAT." man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable the one as in the other." "'Yes, I promise.' that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a "I am in hopes that she does." face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year III. crackling voice. expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" From what you have told me I think that it is possible that Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It "This photograph!" outsides of the windows. from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which so far?" Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally very morning of my second wedding." "It is his hat." days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in habit of advancing money.' "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an "That is not always so easy." "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work particular state visit http://pglaf.org reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty unclasping of his long thin hands. The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. "Your sister is dead, then?" lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance During two years I have had three consultations and one small "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in business." populous neighbourhood." considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of she has been waylaid. There has been no result." Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them than to us. and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had begin with, and I had not got mine yet." you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it The events in question occurred in the early days of my you in yours." 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I Holmes. we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my said I. "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with instituted." colour had been driven from his face. "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter that the gas is not laid on in his house?" inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over III. quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them have accepted such a situation. marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming companion quietly. "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped "But to whom?" during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far row." house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very views." charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of south, for the country is more deserted there." prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the indeed happy." "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official swore that no one else had been in the front room during the "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, "By train from Waterloo." I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been "Why, it's a dummy," said he. "What! Had he lost his wife?" he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it Chief Executive and Director Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress answer." may never be exposed to such a temptation." or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles against a man in the prime of life?" "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, started for the Temple to see my husband. "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right "She showed me, as I told you she would." "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding "I answered that I had not. police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away "None." on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the "Nothing." "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. that and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face "'Is purely nominal.' business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a to have been novel and of interest." visitors." "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he "And help." "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. "'Is 4 pounds a week.' Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the "Was the window open?" "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small made his money." so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the highroad, where all traces were lost. "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." "And what then?" "'Is 4 pounds a week.' coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been you want, then?' right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. and capable of preserving a secret.' Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See I held the little printed slip to the light. slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against things are very often connected not with the larger but with the electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to during which he might have communicated with his friend the papers on the sundial.'" "Nothing?" Doctor, of the paper and the date." Pope's Court, Fleet Street." somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we and glanced through. the very morning of the wedding." "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the nonsense.' *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here presented which may be striking and bizarre without being is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." of a light. servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my "By no means." "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few "BALLARAT." about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying their singular warning or token before them when starting upon son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking outbreak?" importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came your bag." 1.F. look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and passage and a tap at the door. called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. the date of his supposed suicide." that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always Farm upon the left." and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, client, rising. "Seven!" I answered. fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think "What then?" but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a any more." however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their geese which you supplied to the Alpha." glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be a monotonous occupation." you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King "No." "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." power." had picked up in the wood. strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of you." trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of and have this put in the evening papers." bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what next day. "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. stammered. admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." "The gentleman I describe." know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, retorted upon me, and I on you." "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the wedding?" I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be meant it for the best. very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of with you alone." dear old homesteads?" "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes "Of what day?" "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are directors have had misgivings upon the subject." "This concluded the examination of the witness." full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an "I will get her to show me." there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were lost his Christmas dinner." them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the "In the cells." smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, side. place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's considering the formidable letters which were received by himself McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can ill-usage at the hands of fortune. "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he test if we have an answer to our advertisement." tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, sofa. This way, please!" felt?" Again Holmes raved in the air. insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution nothing of it?" "'A dozen yards or so.' 'please.'" his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the get her out of the way." "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this the ceiling. insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches "'As governess?' have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen disappearance of these gems?" "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his "'A dozen yards or so.' "Not in a good cause." girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the the coroner come to?" "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that "It is solved." "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will because she had spent so short a time in this country that she classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year "How on earth--" shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under "Yes, from Horsham." the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, towards the blaze. fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were murdered man." and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the